Welcome to Day 05 of #BookReviewBlogChallenge. Today’s prompt is “Rebel”.
Shoutout to Niru from “Opinions of a Catty, BookLoving Couch Potato” for her witty review of “The Duke and I”. The book was a perfect fit for the theme, the review notes were heartfelt and Julia Quinn book covers themselves are so quirky and attractive!
For today’s challenge I went with a relatively safe choice – “Rebel Talent” by Harvard Business school Professor, Francesca Gino. This book explains why creative rebellion is essential to find joy at work and in life, using diverse examples like a Michelin star chef, the Head of animation studio Pixar and many more!
- Title – Rebel Talent
- Author – Francesca Gino
REVIEW SCORE = 4/5
The book uses the term “Rebel” to mean outlier and someone who shatters conventions, not necessarily mean or evil or aggressive. The author argues that rebel employees are critical to companies and help to raise the bar on innovation, thus contributing to profits and branding and shareholder value.
We all can agree that mindlessly following rules and policies and repeating mundane tasks does suck the satisfaction out of work and life! However, not many of us can gather courage to break the norm, or risk failure. The special few who do are the ones who reach spectacular success!
Note that the author is not suggesting that every employee start breaking rules. Rather the book shows how to balance social conventions and be rebellious for useful purposes. The book also has tips for managers to reign in rebellious employees just enough to maintain a healthy equilibrium between hellion and star performer.
The book reminds me of a quote from Iris Apfel’s book “Fit in before you Step Out”.
The “Pygmalion effect” in the book and the anecdotes in the book were quite interesting. What I would have liked to see more steps to cultivate this mindset, especially for employees who have been conforming for too long. This was a bit lacking in the book.
Similar Works
- Books – “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell, “What You Do is Who You Are” by Ben Horowitz. “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” by Peter Drucker. “It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work” by Jason Fried and David Hansson. “The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in a Multigenerational Workplace” by Lindsey Pollak.
- Movies – Legally Blonde, Braveheart, Brave.
- Genres – Organizational Culture, Workplace Behavior.
Until next time, Adieu and Happy Reading!
I chose Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran, the story of the Rani of Jhansi
http://finithajose.blogspot.com/2020/05/rebel-queen-michelle-moran.html?m=1
Rani of Jhansi is such an iconic part of Indian history. Her accomplishments are stunning in lieu of the patriarchal society that existed.
I am so glad you chose her story for this challenge!
The book cover is gorgeous too!
I took the prompt as an order, so I decided to rebel. Here’s my rebellious review of Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen.
http://misscamilasblog.com/2020/05/02/bookreviewblogchallenge-day-5/
Rebel Camilla, you are amazing! I love your writing and today’s review was extraordinary- perfect for the theme!
I didn’t see the link on for rebel, but I found the page! I chose Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard for the incredible rebel group inside of her story.
https://isabellareviewsonline.wordpress.com/blog-2/
sorry about that snafu. I’ll update the page again with the correct link.
This book looks very inviting! The Corona tiara reminds me of the one worn by the Snow Queen in the Huntsman series movies. Book plot seems much more interesting though!
I went a little out of my normal reads to pick a solid Rebel so I picked Demon’s Song by Kendra Leigh Castle https://wolfmajick.blogspot.com/2020/05/day-5-blog-challenge-rebel-demons-song.html
Angels, vampires and rebels – fascinating combo. Riveting choice.
This one sounds interesting! Here’s mine: https://unidragonfrag.blogspot.com/2020/05/day-05-rebel-bookreviewblogchallenge.html
Hi Unidragon, awesome choice. What could be more rebellious than a female robot gone rogue? With a sobriquet like “Murderbot” that too!
I chose the book: Darling, You Can’t Do Both… because well, just look at the cover and then go read the book (if you have not). It’s been a while but the book cover is made for a prompt like this! Read my thoughts here- https://nirupamaprv.wordpress.com/2020/05/03/book-review-challenge-day-05/
I love this cover – so catchy and rebellious!
Nice book review! The book sounds quite interesting and reminds of Lois Frankel’s “Nice Girls Still Dont get the Corner office” and “How Women Rise” by Sally Hegelson/ Marshall Goldsmith. I loved both books, so will look this one up too! 🙂
I loved How Women Rose as well, though I still need to finish Lois Frankel’s book. I started off with the audio version and didn’t quite finish… My audiobook completion rate is abysmal.
For this one I decided to do Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, where main characters tended to rebel against their upbringing
http://sveta-randomblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/blog-challenge-day-05-rebel.html